After very careful study and consideration, I've come to the conclusion that it is one of two things 1. An undiscovered species (stop laughing!!!) 2. A mutation of a copper. The reason I'm thinking it was a mutation is because of the freak weather at the time of the sighting. Very hot, mid October. ...

Thanks for your observations, Guy. I didn't explain myself very well! It's wings were fat down in a 'basking' position, and it didn't immediately fold it's wings in as many moths do during the day. I've had a bit of a go in photoshop - it's more of a rough interpretation of what I saw than anything ...

Good suggestions lee - the small copper is closest in size and colourto what I saw but it is still very different. The eyespots were very similar to a peacock but rather more defined and the colour was definitely red, rather than the more orange/rusty hues of the copper. In all my years of seeing bu...

thanks for the excellent suggestions, but i'm 90% certain what i saw was a butterfly. I was staggered by it. Honestly, i've not seen anything like it before. I even press ganged my family this sunday into haunting the spot where i saw it in the hope of a repeat appearance but there was no luck. I'm ...

Hello all. Yes, I'm a newbie, but I'm a keen amateur naturalist and an excellent observer. Last Friday (30th Sept) I was mountain biking in woodland on the outskirts of Leeds. On a sandy climb fringed with stunted oak, silver birch, ferns and brambles I noticed a butterfly on the ground in front of ...